Vanuatu is a popular holiday destination for Australians, famous for its beaches, resorts and offshore diving spots.

But it's also one of the most culturally rich and diverse places in the world. In a population of around 245,000, for example, over 100 languages are spoken.

Dramatic objects that reflect the core of Vanuatu's cultural values and practices are on show in the NGA's new exhibition Kastom: Art of Vanuatu.

It comprises over 50 indigenous artworks including sculptures and masks made of wood, feathers, tree fern, pig tusks, mud and clay that are central to the traditional rituals and other aspects of life in this Pacific nation.

Exhibition curator Crispin Howarth says kastom permeates every aspect of life in Vanuatu. It's about respecting and honouring ancestors, relatives, community and the environment. Many of the items are linked to the grade level, or ranking system practised in Vanuatu.

"At each level," Howarth told 666's Genevieve Jacobs, "you gain more status, more wealth, more respect... and to do this you need to be able to sponsor your own ceremonies and performances and so on. And the sculptures were part of that - they were the real visual signifiers that you had attained this level of greatness."

Most of the objects were gathered by a French field collector and linguist, in the early 1970s before the National Gallery was built and are on show for the first time.

"When we contracted John-Michel Charpentier to collect on our behalf the emphasis was really on the visual aesthetic, things which would be suitable for an art gallery as opposed to things which you would usually encounter in a museum," said Howarth. "So he went there with an eye for the most impressive traditional arts [of] a visual nature rather than, you know, the anthropological sorts of things such as adzes, spears and so on.

Anthropologist Kirk Huffman is a former Curator of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre. At the time Charpentier was collecting, Huffman was conducting fieldwork in Vanuatu and helped him as he was packing the objects for transport back to Australia.

"For me they represent spirit worlds that are incredibly complex, incredibly profound. And these spirit worlds still exist, are still relevant for life today," he told 666's Louise Maher. "Each one, at the time that they were made, had a particular essential role in particular types of ritual."

According to Huffman they represent much more than the Western world's idea of art. Some are used as temporary spirit abodes during rituals and afterwards are destroyed or left to rot.

"There isn't the idea that the things would be kept to be admired because they're things that are made for a specific purpose and they serve a particular function," said Huffman.

"We could say that these are materialised spirit forms that do something, that represent something. They're actually an essential part, but not necessarily THE most essential part of the rituals."

Another aspect of the exhibition is a video display, embedded into the floor of the gallery, demonstrating the ephemeral art of sand drawing. These intricate drawings contain multiple layers of meaning and are a way of communicating and retaining traditional knowledge.

Huffman believes Australians should visit the exhibition to "open their minds."

"For centuries these cultures have been put down by the white peoples, been classed as primitive. They're not primitive at all - they're highly sophisticated, very profound societies that are just not necessarily interested in the kinds of things that the white man's world is trying to push. They're not interested in bling," he said.

The Director of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre Marcellin Abong is also keen for visitors to learn and understand how people live in his country.

"This exhibition shows the magnificence of the arts which we have in Vanuatu...where the culture is still alive," he told Louise Maher.

"I am proud of the exhibition because maybe it will tell our visitors...how we live through those objects that are exhibited here...And I believe this exhibition will send a message to the outside world that we have [our] own cultures and also we want to tell the outside world the importance of our traditional knowledge, even though we are living now in a world of mass media and [the] web."